Zician Incursions
The Zician Incursions were a series of disparate military confrontations over an extended period of conflict on the Zician peninsula, including and immediately following the end of the Global Conflict. The fighting primarily involved the opposing forces of the recently separated North and South Zicia, backed up by their Heartlandian and Great Imperial allies, respectively. Generally recognised as comprising three distinct phases, the Decline refers to the domestic skirmishes between rival factions in the united, independent Zician nation after the War of the Century. The Division phase started with Heartland's invasion of the country in ERA 09-50, and culminated in the settling of border lines of the newly established North Zicia in ERA 09-57. The Interim phase, mainly describing high-intensity North Zician attacks on the south between ERA 09-58 and 09-66, comprises the period between the division of Zicia and the next major conflict in the region, the Zician War of Unification. Background The War of the Century, a continent-wide struggle between the world's superpowers that spanned much of the first decade of the 9th Century ERA, was severely costly for all nations involved. Zicia, a small but densely-populated peninsula nation with few natural resources and a weak economy, was hit especially hard. For seven years, it fought against a United Federal Republic invasion of its territory with little outside support before a truce was declared. In the aftermath, Zicia found itself economically and politically devastated internally, and diplomatically isolated internationally. Zicia received war reparations from the UF and agreed to lease ports to the eastern power, after its invasion forces became bogged down in the country for years and decided to withdraw. This humiliating defeat contributed to intense national resentment against Zicia, despite the negotiated exchange of trade between the two. The Great Empire, who saw itself as an ally of Zicia during the war despite little strategic and material cooperation, was outraged at Zicia making peace with the UF, and withdrew their promises of additional island enclaves in the Great Channel. The newly established superpower of Heartland was also watchful of Zicia. Almost immediately after the UF was expelled from its own territory, Heartland's land border with Zicia was heavily reinforced, with the overbearing, numerically superior Heartlandian army a constant strain on neighbourly relations. Despite this, there was some mutual assistance between the two nations, with Heartland helping rebuild and develop Zicia's infrastructure and industrial capacity, in exchange for Zician naval expertise to aid the fledgling Heartlandian fleet. Course of the Conflict The Decline Surrounded on all sides by enemies, with its economy in shambles, and a disillusioned populace of many differing allegiances, over the next few decades the Zician peninsula gradually descended into anarchy. The various political parties, vying to establish a new order of their own making, took up arms in the ensuing confrontation, carving up the country into sectors of influence. In ERA 09-39, the ruling party in Zicia declared a state of emergency, suspending democratic elections. This further inflamed tensions between rival political movements. The disharmony was being monitored from across the border in Heartland, who saw the protracted unrest as an opportunity to expand its territorial reach in the great channel. In the Hulya Heights Incident in January ERA 09-48, Heartlandian troops commenced a limited offensive into northern Zicia in an attempt to test the reactiveness and fighting strength of the Zician army. Over the course of two months, Zician forces battled to hold back the invaders as the salient was gradually expanded, after which they requested a cease fire. They managed to hold on to their territorial gains, the insignificance of which greatly puzzled the Zicians. However, the real spoils were in the weaknesses identified in the Zician military, which would be exploited in the full-scale invasion two years later, in which Hulya would serve as a jumping off point for the attackers. The Division Zicia was still in political turmoil when the Heartlandians returned, at the beginning of ERA 09-50, eager to expand their territory after the UF's seizure of Causeway. The government had somewhat successfully managed to unite the armed forces of a number of the squabbling factions against this new, larger threat, but mutual mistrust meant the response was disjointed and ineffectual. Reclaiming the booming centre of industry that they themselves had developed, Heartland annexed North Zicia, and roughly a third of Zicia's population, in only six months. Long term analysis of the situation in Zicia, in addition to a network of Heartlandian-controlled operatives embedded in local faction leadership, and alongside the preparation of a well-informed and well-equipped occupational force prior to the invasion, had allowed Heartland to quickly secure the cooperation of the majority of the civilian and military population of the northern territories. This newly raised foreign legion was comprised largely of followers of the popular Northern Ascension party, characterised by their desire to amplify Zicia's presence on the world stage through an alliance with one of the superpowers. These sympathetic volunteers, in addition to those tempted or coerced into collaborating with Heartland, would form the bulk of the Heartland Defence Force, which would go on to become the predominant means of applying Heartland's military power in the Zician region for the rest of the war. However, the other factions remaining in the north, such as the Zician Radical Party, as well as the Loyalist army units still aligned with the official national government, continued to resist against the Heartlandian puppet state, as would the forces situated in the other half of the country. The south had become a haven for both armed and unarmed people fleeing the Heartland invasion. The Loyalists were being driven back every time they met the Heartlandian advance - cut off from the supply centres of the north and desperately short of manpower, the remaining political parties in the south sought support from wherever they could find it. For example, the Reconciliation League, manned by breakaway veterans of the Loyalist army, found material support in the United Republics', but their enclave was crushed by the HDF in ERA 09-56, the survivors scattered across the peninsula. The Free Southern Movement, another Loyalist splinter group backed by the Great Empire, found greater success in uniting the peoples of the southern region and fighting back against the north. With the substantial assistance of the western power at its disposal, the Southerners managed to reverse some of the gains of the HDF, but ultimately failed to retake the whole peninsula. As dynamic warfare ground to a halt after six years of continuous fighting, the border lines were drawn between the newly established nations of North and South Zicia. The former, as a puppet state of Heartland, enticed with the promise of equality and worldwide recognition. The latter, a united but destitute country, completely dependent on aid from the Empire, to whom it had been forced to cede the better part of its off-shore territories in exchange for its continued existence. In ERA 09-57, an uneasy silence fell upon the fractured Zician peninsula. The Interim In March ERA 09-58, the military arm of the north, now known as the North Zician Defence Force, attempted to shake free of its annexation in a coup d'état. The mutiny was violently put down by Heartlandian national forces, who in the aftermath of the incident, sought to prevent the reorganised North Zician military from ever again opposing Heartland's installed regime. It therefore ordered new offensives against the south, in an effort to tie up local forces' strength and focus attention away from the political takeover of the country. From June ERA 09-58, the North Zician Army incessantly probed the South Zician border for weaknesses, while a more substantial attack force was built up. In August, this force of several hundred thousand fell upon the vulnerable eastern flank of their enemy, cutting a swathe through their lines and securing a section of the peninsula's east coastline. Great Empire forces, relieved after their successes in the Great Channel, were dispatched to the peninsula proper to stabilize the situation. By the time they had induced a stalemate in March of the next year, South Zicia retained only a fraction of the Yingse headland. Armed conflict in the region continued sporadically until May ERA 09-60. At that point, North Zicia was facing a crisis as it struggled to replace losses sustained in the last decade of almost continuous battle. In order to keep up offensive pressure, a guerrilla movement based around the rural areas of the western coast was deployed against South Zicia. This irregular force, trained in the North, infiltrated the South's lines by land and sea, establishing hidden cells in the jungles along the Sibiyu river. From there they would attack enemy supply convoys, communication centers and bases behind the lines. The Southern and Imperial militaries were forced to divert troops and resources away from holding the front to fighting this insurgent threat, which as a conventional army, it struggled to adapt to. Meanwhile, the regular arm of the North Zician Army began to plan another massive offensive in the east, using the insurgency on the other side of the country to weaken the defenders. The new attack, featuring advanced weapons supplied by Heartland, included substantial support from tank, helicopter and artillery formations, broke apart the Southern line shortly after it was launched in May ERA 09-64. The speed and strength of the Norzic was a considerable shock to the Southern alliance, who was pushed completely out of the Yingse. Despite a promising start, however, the offensive was definitively halted in October that same year, as the strong Norzic divisions spearheading the assault were quickly expended. As the last major confrontation in the Interim ended, the Norzics would suspend all future conventional offensive operations for some time. The insurgency in the west of the country continued for several years, and was only believed to have been decisively defeated in the winter of ERA 09-66. Belligerents Timeline *'Yingse Campaign' (June ERA 09-58 to October 09-64) **'First Battle of Yingse' - (June ERA 09-58 to May 09-60) **'Second Battle of Yingse' - (May ERA 09-64 to October 09-64) *'Siyabu Insurgency' - (September ERA 09-58 to November 09-66) Category:Conflicts Category:Premier Timeline